Patient Experience

In case you missed them, below are links to recently created videos of our clients and staff, as well as links to recorded webinars. New Videos Our healthcare provider clients share their experiences and best practices using Experian Health’s solutions. Watch Now Chris Lah from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital shares his insight around healthcare reimbursement challenges. Watch Now Rachel Papka from Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging Centers outlines her orders management challenges and how her organization has overcome them. Watch Now Karly Rowe from Experian Health highlights the importance of matching, managing and protecting patient identities to safeguard medical information and reduce risk. Watch Now Tony Murdoch from Experian Data Quality explains how Experian's Data Quality Solutions can add value to our clients. Watch Now On Demand Webinars Patient Identification – The Challenges Healthcare Leaders and the Industry are Facing Today (HealthLeaders-hosted event). View Now (registration required) The Importance of Managing and Protecting Patient Identities (NAHAM-hosted event). View Now (registration required)  

Below is a collection of some of most compelling article we've read in recent months. We hope you find these interesting, too! One Goal; One Contract: How a Nationwide Health Data Sharing Framework is Revolutionizing Interoperability https://www.himss.org/news/one-goal-one-contract-how-nationwide-health-data-sharing-framework-revolutionizing-interoperability   7 things to know about Aetna's ACA exchange exit https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/payer-issues/7-things-to-know-about-aetna-s-aca-exchange-exit.html   5 steps to cybersecurity for Internet of Things medical devices https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/5-steps-cybersecurity-internet-things-medical-devices    CMS: ICD-10 specificity kicks in Oct. 1, 2016 https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cms-icd-10-specificity-kicks-oct-1-2016   3 leadership skills crucial for a culture change http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/3-leadership-skills-crucial-for-a-culture-change.html

Undoubtedly, you have been monitoring progress toward legislation for healthcare providers to furnish patients with estimates for their cost of care. And if it’s not already in place, there’s a strong chance your state will be next on the list to require price transparency. Additionally, with the continued popularity of high deductible health plans, patients are looking to price shop for their healthcare services. Patients expect more healthcare cost information available online, like in every other industry. Helping patients know what they will owe prior to service can enable them to make more informed decisions about their care and increase patient satisfaction. As more states begin to mandate providing pre-service estimates to patients, it’s critical for healthcare providers to know what solutions are available to help them comply. According to a recent Fierce Healthcare article, “Real healthcare price transparency for consumers is dependent on rich data sources that provide meaningful price information on a wide range of procedures and services.1" Experian Health is here to help! Our Patient Estimates solution is a pricing transparency tool that enables you to create accurate estimates of services, before or at the point-of-service. Patient Estimates is also offered within our Patient Self-Service portal, allowing patients to access estimates on-demand. See how Patient Estimates helped St. Clair Hospital in the Pittsburgh market. According to the June 2016 KLAS Healthcare Price Transparency Solutions Performance Report, “…clients feel [Experian Health’s] Patient Estimates is a critical element in their efforts to help patients know up front what their costs will be, and clients report overall satisfaction with the product, services, and vendor engagement. The solution is seen as very complete and robust, with strong customer support.” Experian Health's Patient Estimates can help your organization: Increase up-front collections Provide patient’s pricing prior to service Increase patient satisfaction Let us help you prepare now for state requirements that will ultimately increase accurate up-front collections and more importantly improve patient satisfaction! Call us at 1 888 661 5657 or email experianhealth@experian.com to get started!     1Ron Shinkman, “A few more states get passing grades on price transparency,” Fierce Healthcare, July 28, 2016

Scott Lee oversees the Experian Health Reference Program. Scott graduated with a BA in Business Management from The University of Texas at San Antonio, and has been with the organization for 12 years, beginning with MPV, which was acquired by Experian in 2011. Scott lives in San Antonio with his wife and two children and says his second home is the San Antonio Zoo based on how much time he and his family spend there. Scott is a catalyst for fostering the connection between Experian Health’s current and potential clients to allow the former to share their positive experience and ROI using our solutions. Our clients also benefit from being a reference by learning about the workflow and best practices of similar organizations. Because of the importance of protecting our clients’ privacy, Scott schedules calls on behalf of our clients and ensures that the experience is mutually beneficial and minimally disruptive for all parties involved. “We’re very appreciative of our reference clients, and it’s a privilege for our potential clients to hear their experiences firsthand.” he said. Share your story by being an Experian Health Reference Client! Contact your Sales Director/Account Manager or contact Scott Lee at scott.lee@experian.com or (210) 582-6320.

Below is an update from the Experian Health  Support Team. Network & System Performance Last six months: Upgrades to the network, compute and storage infrastructure have improved performance and scalability. Enhanced alerting and reporting to strengthen proactive measures for issues remediation Next six months: Data Center move and consolidation will localize production communications to improve efficiencies Automation improvements to reduce on-boarding times for new clients Subscribe to Receive Product Support Updates Opt in to receive emails about significant product updates or changes. Access the Experian Health Product Dashboard here.    

Our congratulations and admiration go out to all Experian Health clients who were recently recognized by Hospitals and Health Networks (H&HN) magazine with the prestigious 2016 “Most Wired” distinction: http://www.hhnmag.com/articles/7393-2016-most-wired-themes. Following are two (of the MANY) Experian Health clients who were honored. Altru Health System has been recognized in the Advanced Category in this year’s HealthCare’s Most Wired™ survey. The survey, released on July 6 by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum, is a leading industry barometer measuring information technology (IT) use and adoption among hospitals nationwide. It examined how organizations are leveraging IT to improve performance for value-based healthcare in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, quality and safety, and clinical integration. St. Clair Hospital’s Patient Estimates tool, the only one of its kind in the greater Pittsburgh region, has garnered the Mt. Lebanon-based medical center Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN) magazine’s prestigious Innovator Award for its co-development of the cost transparency software. Patient Estimates, which was made available to the public earlier this year at www.stclair.org, gives patients the ability to learn, in advance, what their estimated out-of-pocket costs will be for services at St. Clair or the Hospital’s Outpatient centers. Patient Estimates is highly accurate and based on information provided by each patient’s health benefit plan. Please contact us to add your organization’s Innovative Achievements to our future Shout Outs!

In case you missed them, below are some great tools to help you address key business challenges. Enjoy the read! Press Releases Innovative Mindset Enables Experian Health to Deliver New Capabilities Experian Health Rises to 45 On The 2016 Healthcare Informatics 100 List   White Paper Why Start the Payment Process Prior to Service? As a patient’s financial obligation grows, it’s imperative to tailor payment strategies to each unique situation. In pre-service stages, data-driven solutions provide a higher likelihood of securing patient payment. Flexible patient payment plans contribute to a positive billing, payment, and overall engagement experience, as well as a provider’s financial health. Read our white paper to learn more about the importance of the Personalization in the Healthcare Consumer Payment Process. Read Now   Article: Healthcare IT Transformation - How Has Ransomware Shifted the Landscape of Healthcare Data Security? Read Now

Welcome Katie Zibelin, Experian Health Marketing’s newest team member. Katie made her Experian debut in August 2015 as an intern where she supported client events, tradeshows and proposal efforts behind the scenes.  Upon securing her advertising degree from the University of Texas at Austin in December 2015--one semester ahead of schedule--Katie joined the team full time this February. In her current role as a Marketing Coordinator, Katie is responsible for tracking projects, managing vendor activities, conducting tradeshow and vendor research, developing new vendor relationships, coordinating and supervising tradeshow activities and communicating programs and events. Katie also serves as the project leader of our 2016 Regional User Conferences. In her first solo performance at our Southeast Regional Conference in New Orleans, Katie received rave reviews for demonstrating project management and event planning maturity and grace under pressure. Fun Fact: Katie is also an accomplished contemporary dancer/performer/instructor. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Katie with questions regarding any of the upcoming Regional User Conferences at Katie.Zibelin@experianhealth.com.

As discussed in part one of this blog series, technology such as patient portals are changing the way physicians are interacting with patients and how those patients access their medical information. An article in USA Today quotes the American Academy of Family Physicians on usage: 41% of family practice physicians use portals for secure messaging Another 35% use them for patient education About one-third use them for prescribing medications and scheduling appointments While intuitively it might seem that online interactions would distance physicians and patients, the reverse is actually true. Researchers found that patients who had online access to their physicians and other healthcare professionals increased their use of in-person and telephone clinical services, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Increases in patient engagement can carry over into patient billing portals. Take Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), for example. The organization decided to update its patient billing portal two years ago in the hopes that a better interface and more functionality would increase the number of families using the portal. With only a one-time notice in a paper statement, CCHMC saw adoption rates soar more than tenfold in the first year after implementing the new platform. CCHMC, which is consistently ranked in the nation’s top five children’s hospitals, also experienced an increase in collections of 10-15%, and a five-fold increase of online payments, up from $200,000/month to $1 million/month. The patient-friendly portal now has more than 22,000 families using its self-service functions. The portal gives users 24/7 online account management, along with the ability to schedule appointments, pay bills and access lab results. Families now have anytime, anywhere access to their account, an important benefit for busy families trying to cope with a sick child. In conjunction with the online portal modernization, CCHMC also gave its printed patient statements a facelift. Not only did patients find the previous multi-page statements confusing, it had become increasingly expensive and time consuming to make even minor information changes and updates. Altering something as simple as a phone number or office hours could cost thousands of dollars in custom programming fees. The adoption of a new patient statement solution has given CCHMC the ability to make statement changes in house, eliminating custom programming while also reducing mailing expenses. In the first year, CCHMC saved $70,000 on their monthly invoicing due to lower printing and mailing costs, reducing the statement size from two pages to one and receiving discounts on postage. With patient experience and engagement a top priority for providers, it’s critical to consider a similar approach that works for your organization—an approach that will help patients be more active participants in their health, as well as support your clinical and financial goals. CCHMC will discuss its experiences with patient engagement, administrative savings and lessons learned at our January 28 Webinar, “Improving the Patient Billing Experience Through Online Customer Self-Service.” Register now to attend.